Northwest QB Nick Riley appreciates chance to play with the big boys

Considering the ways things were just two months ago — up in the air — it’s kind of fitting Nick Riley blistered a pass through the air to end Thursday’s 7-on-7 passing camp.

Riley is the biggest quarterback in Stark County you probably never heard of.

See more photos from Thursday's camp.

The 6-foot-5 junior at Northwest High School had somewhat of a coming-out party this week at GlenOak High School. He and a handful of his Northwest teammates took part in the NFL’s High School Player Development camp, which is free to all players thanks to the National Guard’s sponsorship.

It wasn’t that long ago that Riley wasn’t sure he’d be playing football because of Northwest’s tenuous levy situation. When voters passed a levy, the Indians kept athletics and a pay-to-play fee.

Now he’s heading to Cleveland to participate in the NFL’s regional tournament Saturday. He will be one of 30 players from Stark County trying to advance from the Cleveland NFL market to a national tournament in Tampa Bay later this summer. Last year, four Stark County players made it.

“This was enjoyable to come out and play with all the bigger schools and we’re from little Northwest,” Riley said.

A few feet away from a smiling Riley was Northwest head coach Vic Whiting. He hasn’t ordered any new equipment for two seasons.

“We haven’t had the money,” he said.

In 2011, Northwest has just two games scheduled because it was forced to withdraw from the NBC due to the district’s financial uncertainty.

But Thursday, on a perfect summer evening at a camp that’s so good it’s tough to pass up (it’s free), the Indians took their first step back.

“I’m not saying anyone else doesn’t, but our kids really do appreciate what we get,” Whiting said. “They appreciate it every minute of every day. We were facing having sports eliminated. This camp, it signifies the start of things again.”

Northwest voters approved the levy.

The Indians will play football this fall. Riley likely will lead the huddle. He threw a perfect 40-yard touchdown pass to Cory Hoffman to end Thursday’s camp.

“That was the first time I heard your ball,” Whiting told him. “You had something on that.”

Sure enough, the whiz of the ball cut past a defender and fell perfectly into Hoffman’s hands for a touchdown.

In this camp, though, quarterbacks don’t often get to throw to their receivers. Players from all teams were thrown together. These NFL camps are the last time they will play together. After this, they’re opponents battling in summer scrimmages, summer 7-on-7 camps and soon, Friday nights.

“They’re still in summer mode,” GlenOak head coach Scott Garcia said of the players. “There are kids in camps all over, and this is kind of neat to see them all interact with each other. This is a steppingstone to July. and when July comes, they’re not like this.”

On a grass practice field on GlenOak’s campus, the linemen battled and learned in drills. Ohio State-bound Steve Miller from McKinley stood out. He’s chiseled from granite.

“He’s a man among boys,” Garcia said.

Thursday, though, they were all boys. Playing together. There weren’t rivalries. They were kids representing the best Stark County has to offer to the NFL.


Who participated

Stark County players who participated in Thursday’s NFL High School Player Development camp Thursday at GlenOak High School.

St. Thomas Aquinas—Tyler Moeglin, Ian Crawford. Sandy Valley—Sam Groff, Zach Mozden. Northwest—Nick Riley, Ronnie Beers, J.C. Pawlyk, Cory Hoffman, Jacob Staubs. GlenOak—Justin Trawick, DeShawn Hall, Brionte Dunn, Matt Clark, London Butler, Brandon Means, Cody Lockhart, Luke Merrell. Tuslaw—Brent Rasmussen. Jackson—Rob Calhoun, Nate Locke, Mike Todich. Massillon—William Hendricks. McKinley—Taron Montgomery, Tyler Foster, Malcolm Robinson, Johnny Duncan, Zach Sweat, Tyler Carney, Matt Ogletree.